towerofanimus | there's something in the wind

Entry tags:

there's something in the wind

Characters: Fado, a cavalcade of shadow children, and youuuuu
Setting: The Farm floor, the Music Room and Forest on floor 32
Format: Starting prose, but I can go whichever
Summary: Bitter nostalgia evolves into full-on shadow spectre invasion. There's not much to miss back home when you're already dead, but the guilt of a Sage can err on overwhelming.
Warnings: standard Individuation Event warnings for now

[Floor 33 - Farmland][Tuesday]
It had been a very long time since Fado had been near his own forest. He had forfeited his tribe's traditions and left the forest to serve the Gods, and through his entire lingering in the Wind Temple he never had a chance to see the Forest Haven for himself. But time had tested his connection was always there; he knew of the Haven, knew of the little Koroks that lived under the Great Deku Tree's new vigilance, even when he was stranded.

That last part just seemed to be ever true now. Even when he knew malice as in the air, and the world they currently lived in was so...artificial, he recognized the small sapling that had been given to him, as much as a father recognizing his son. Though in this case, it was the exact opposite.

Logically, he recognized that it was hopeless; it was dead. They all were. Death was something he had long become familiar with, but even though he knew the Great Deku Tree had passed once before, it was almost impossible for him to fathom that the one that had raised him could possibly fall. The eternal child in him could not leave it as it lay and give up hope that the Great Deku Tree might still be with him so easily. So instead, Fado tried his best. He'd found a small unused patch of dirt on the farmland, mostly out of the way, and set to digging a small hole for the sapling to take root. He knew that the Tree might prefer it more in the forest; but it would be easier for a tiny plant to grow anew in an open space, and maybe it could start a whole new forest on its own.

It was a bit of wishful thinking. All the while, a tiny, tiny shadow orbited around him, not belonging to any creature, but watching his task ever so carefully.

How come you didn't die with me?

[Floor 28 - Music Room][Wednesday]
Another shadow had crawled out of the woods that morning; normally it was natural for him to shy away from things of darkness, especially after it had so thoroughly destroyed his temple. However, this time it was a bit...different.

This was someone he knew. Someone he missed.

Fado hadn't tried to run from her; they were both typically very steadfast and silent figures when they were serving, so the figures quiet scrutiny did not bother him at first. He'd taken her with him to the music room in fact. The forest was not her usual habitat, and though they came to be surrounded by the sea, the water was not his either. So he figured a room of music was the best compromise.

Maybe it was a bit-- dare we say, childish, to expect any kind of reunion with a shadow of a being; but still, Fado stood among the instruments, his own violin out and playing a slightly different melody than usual: the Earth God's Lyric, the other half to his usual tune. He was intimately familiar with the notes, though it stumbled a bit on his own strings. He tried to coax the same melody out of the figure before him-- who seemed to be holding a harp themselves-- but it seemed they refused to comply.

He tried not to let it get to him.

[Floor 32 - Forest][Friday]
There had been many more shadows where that came from.

Children, no more taller than him, and bulbous creatures who were even shorter-- the small remains of the future of his tribe. The kids he'd left behind in the forest, who had been lost in the Flood; and the children of the Forest who he had robbed of a future, by the mere fact of existing far beyond his time.

You got to leave the forest?
Why did you leave?
Why choose you instead of us? That's not fair!
I've always wanted to go to Dragon Roost Island.
I never got to see the Great Fairy! I want to see the Great Fairy!
I never got to see the ocean before...

What kind of Kokiri outlives their fairy anyway?! How could you do this to me?!

He wasn't so afraid of death. He was very well aware of his place in the universe. It was being removed from that place where he started to get scared.

It as a far cry from his own forest, but he could run quickly-- hide among the trees and the bushes, try to escape the critique of the insatiable crowd of shadows. Every now and then they'd remain scattered and confused in a scuffle, but then, it wasn't long again before the Kokiri had to take off again, unless he wanted to keep listening. And here and now, the music in the world may as well have been the sound of strings snapping.

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Back when this floor first came into being, it was like a pleasant oasis separate from the horrors and impossibilities of the rest of the Tower, and Zelda spent a great deal of time here. But now... now the memories it holds sting, even though it's been over a year since the first friend she made in the Tower left.

Of course she left. Who would want to stay around a failure of a princess like you?

Yet now she's seeking sanctuary again, in the hope that the music of the instruments will drown out the constant insults and criticisms of the phantoms following her. She's somewhat surprised to hear a familiar violin playing an unfamiliar song when she enters, however, knowing the Kokiri vastly prefers the greenery of the gardens or forests. She observes quietly for a moment, glancing between him and the shadow he's playing for, before finally speaking up.

"... I have never heard you play that song before."

He looked away from his... 'audience' with surprise, cutting off his tune and turning his new guest.

"Ah, princess," Well, he was who he was, bowing to her quickly in respect as he held his instrument down by side.

"It is a companion piece to my usual prayer; have I ever told you there was not merely one, but two sages to the Master Sword in my time?" The memory brightens the smile on his face, even if... well. Even if he could hear the whispering of disapproval of their old ways from his 'audience.'

"The Wind Sage and the Earth Sage, a very kind Zora by the name of Laruto. The Wind God's Aria I would play on my violin, and the Earth God's Lyric she would play on her harp. In truth, they are two songs meant to form one, together preserving the gift from the Goddesses."

And here, he looked a bit...crestfallen. "I am afraid my old friend does not seem so eager to hear the old tune as I am, after Ganondorf's wake took her."

"The Wind Sage and the Earth Sage..." she muses aloud, partway in an attempt to drown out the distant whispers and jeers plaguing her own mind (The great and wise "leader of the sages" doesn't even know who they are? Pathetic.).

She cannot help mimicking Fado's solemn expression when he laments the shadow's lack of cheer. It's so rare to see the Wind Sage as anything but pleasantly serene that seeing him look so dismayed wrenches her heart in an unpleasant way. But a thought strikes her as she glances to the wispy form of the former Earth Sage, and particularly the imitation of a harp she carries.

Could she...? But it's been so long... And there's still something that burns like an old wound when she thinks about the time she spent playing in this room.

... But Minami wouldn't want her to mope around forever, would she?

"Ah..." she can't quite banish the hesitance from her voice, but-- "A harp, was it?"

"That is correct," He affirms, looking up slightly with a nod of his head. "It is a relic much like my violin, with great power when played by a sage. I believe it reached a unique point of prominence in the Great Sea as well, though held by Laruto's descendant instead."

Surely this cannot matter anymore; we've already been abandoned far too many times over.

He almost misses the hint of hesitation in Zelda's voice, but it was better to think about that than other pressing matters at hand. "Why do you ask?"

She doesn't respond right away, instead listening to his explanation while making her way over to the harps standing nearby. Quietly, thoughtfully, she ghosts a hand over the neck, the column, the strings before looking back to Fado, an odd sort of determination in her eyes.

"Is the Earth God's Lyric something you can teach me?"

Fado recognized that gesture; it was the movement of someone that was very familiar with the way the strings of an instrument were strung, their sounds, their width. And at her words, his expression brightened more than it had been in quite a while. Enough for the shadow to take a step back.

"Of course!" He spoke with the enthusiasm of a child again, almost foreign to the voice of stuck in a temple for years. "The prayer is a very simple tune, at its basics very easy to learn; I did not know you had any interest."

"I have not played for a very long time," she responds, a smile on her face but a note of melancholy to her voice. But she banishes those memories of regret and loss with the Wind Sage's excitement, folding her skirts under her and taking a seat at her chosen instrument. Idly, she softly plucks a few strings, testing its tune and making adjustments where necessary.

"It has been rather busy and hectic lately, after all," she gives as her reason for her lack of playing, which, to her credit, is half-way true.

"It is understandable; our presentation situation does not allow much for flights of leisure..." Though music was the centerpiece of his life, he can understand that for others it's not integral to their day to day lives. Especially given the merciless nature of the Tower.

"However, they are certainly not ones that should be abandoned," he says happily, bringing his violin up to rest under his chin and readying his bow across the strings, very briefly playing the main frame of the Lyric: an extended low note that built a small crescendo to rest at a neutral level. Really, it seemed to just be the opposite notes of his typical Aria at a lower key.

"Perhaps not..." she responds a bit too thoughtfully, given the context of their conversation. Though her attention is somewhat divided between the present and the past, she closes her eyes to listen to Fado's rendition of the Lyric. As he said, it's a simple melody, something an experienced musician like her should have no trouble learning.

Once she's felt she has a decent handle on the notes and rhythm, she raises her hands to the strings, and begins to play. It's a bit slower than how Fado was playing earlier - a sign of someone new to the tune - and the tones she plucks from the strings are of a different timbre from the Earth Sage's, but at its core the Earth God's Lyric, all the same.

Sephiran went other places than the library and Floor 100. One such place was the music room, where he would periodically practice singing to himself. It didn't mean much, and it stopped meaning much long, long ago, but singing had always been a small comfort to him. He walked in on Fado playing the Earth God's Lyric, standing just in front of the doorway and listening to the music. When the playing ceased, he spoke.

"That was a beautiful melody. Is it music from your home world?"

For a moment it's almost as if he hadn't noticed Sephiran, but-- no, he had simply been... listening to his old friend.

He did turn to look at the stranger, though his perpetual smile was a bit more taut than usual.

"It is. It is a prayer; a very important one. It was once kept by a very close friend of mine."

Musical prayers brought to mind the Galdr of Release and other assorted magical songs from his world. Some purified, while others could restore a corrupted form.

"Might I ask what made it so important? I have my share of important music as well, but I would like to know."

He was perfectly happy to explain it; it was a welcome distraction.

"It is a prayer to the gods, to preserve the power of evil's bane and protect the world. In my world, there is a great power that the forces of evil wish to abuse; and there is likewise a great power that the forces of good may employ. The tool through which that is done is the sacred Master Sword. My companion and I would play this prayer to the gods so that the Master Sword will always shine with the power to protect us."

Something about the idea of praying to a god seemed nostalgic to Sephiran. Then again, when you had actually met your world's gods, praying to them felt a bit strange.

"Might I ask what precisely this power is? Is the Master Sword a sort of divine weapon, or does it channel divine power?" Sephiran's goddesses could bless weapons and armor; maybe this was similar.

[ His personal squad of shadow children hasn't festered into a horde of ghosts at this point in the week yet. There are only two, three, four or five of the humanoid blobs that doggedly linger in his footsteps, ~~cursing~~ whispering and ~~cursing~~ whispering and ~~cursing~~ whispering.

It's one of those people who he recognizes as a roommate he comes across as he boredly wanders through the Tower, and he's bent over, digging into an unused plant of dirt. A hole, Avenger settles on, it's a hole for something, that sapling apparently, to grow in. But if that sapling kinda dead-looking?

His bare feet raise a little dust into the air as he boredly walks over the dirt to Fado, uncaring of that tiny shadow that revolves around him as if caught in orbit. ]

What are ya' trying to plant?

A tree.

[He says quite simply, sitting back on his feet and looking up at Avenger with a smile.]

That is the simplest way I know how to put it. I believe to humans and hylians, it would be more likened to my father.

[I'm surprised you even have the gall to call him that anymore.]

[ A dead tree. He looks from grubby Fado to the dead tree sapling, his head tilting to the side. ]

It's your old man. . . ? Huh, it ain't going to be doing any growing anytime soon, from the looks of it. Or ever, actually.

[ Show some respect for once, Angra Mainyu. ]

How it'd pop you out? You don't look like a plant.

[The commentary did sort of... ground him, in a bit of an unpleasant way, though he tried not to let it get to him much.]

I have seen entire worlds come back from worse. [Which is really just his way of trying to stay a hopeless optimist.]

I may not look it but in truth I am more plant-like than human in nature. My people are born as seeds from the forest, and it is the Great Deku Tree that watches and cares for us as we grow older. Hearing the other plants of the forest is more normal for us than conversing with those outside.

And I've seen plenty things die from less. Worlds are a lot less fragile than a sapling.

[ Hey, if he wants to indulge in some hopeless optimism, be his guest. He rested a hand on his hip, gazing down at the sapling placed in the hole he'd dug in the soil of the farmland on this floor. ]

Well, I see. So ya' started out as a seed in a forest, grew, and the tree this sapling would have grown into was your peoples' caretaker. Yeah, that matches the description of a father to humans.

I would not describe him as fragile. [He seems oddly chipper for y'know, Avenger being such a downer. Maybe it was just nice to reminisce.]

He was very sturdy; the Great Deku Tree I knew was already much, much older than I am when I was born. [He continued speaking, making sure the sapling was placed properly before he started carefully moving the dirt to cover the hole.]

He took very good care of us... so I believe I can at least show him the proper respect in this place.

It's just a babe right now. A dead one.

[ Naturally seething with negativity, Avenger is and doesn't he have the nicest comments to contribute to the conversation. That is bit of a downer on company unfortunately. But he's not that surprised by Fado's unwavering cheer. :|a

He curiously watches as the other person settles the sapling in before moving the dirt in to fill the hole, Fado reminiscing aloud as he does. He crosses his arms across his chest, not really feeling the need to respond to the stroll down memory lane. ]

Honoring your peoples' father? That's understandable.

[Ah, when the unstoppable optimism clashes with the immovable negativity.]

For now. I do not believe it will be such forever. [He finished patting the dirt over the hole, he stood up from his kneeling position and patted the dirt off his hands on the bottom of his tunic as he turned to face Avenger properly.

Oh yeah, what are you supposed to do about it? You can't even protect a temple like you're SUPPOSED to!

...And he tried to ignore the tiny shadow settling on top of his hat.]

...What about your father? Did you have one?

[ only the living can bring back the dead said the shadow with Bazett's voice, posture straight as the spine of a book. Its accusation stabs into the back of his neck, but doesn't move him. even if the deceased were to be granted life once again, without a doubt, the dead cannot bring back the dead. isn't that right, Angra Mainyu? ]

And what ya' do 'bout that? Once something's dead, it takes more than a bit of dirt and sunshine to get it thriving again.

[ Unless he was talking about the actual Great Deku Tree in his world. Fado presses the dirt down into the hole, covering the roots of the dead sapling and then stood up, facing him with a tiny shadow perched on his head. He gestures with a hand. ]

Nah, not really. That guy disowned me pretty clearly way back when. [ He snorts a little. ]

Dead is not such a finite doom, my friend. [He chuckles a bit playfully-- there's no malice, at least.]

Though the Deku Tree dies, it will always be reborn a new! And I myself have persisted long past my own physical existence.

[His smile doesn't leave, but it does falter a bit sympathy.] I am sorry to hear that.

Nah, that's not what I'm fucking talking 'bout. [ He shakes his head, looking cross for a moment at the misinterpretation. ]

That sapling's dead. Unless you plan splitting it open and hoping for new seeds to pop out, no more growth will come outta' it. [ Angra yawned rudely. ] Funnily enough, I've been dead for a few centuries now myself. I'm not talking 'bout death being a doom.

[ The Servant shrugged lightly, not responding to the sympathy or even acknowledging its existence. ] It's in the past, I can't say I care.

[chaos..was exhausted. While he hadn't tried to speak to his shadow companions, their quips and insults just hurt and drained him emotionally. He had decided to wander around the Tower for a little while before taking a long nap in front of his friends graves, and, thus, had wandered onto this floor. However, he didn't expect to see a person climbing up a tall tree. They were probably trying to escape their shadows as well.

Carefully, chaos approached the tree, his group of shadow children all following him as he did so and making comments. Shadow Mary said that this place looked just like Earth, and that maybe she and it would have been able to survive if he didn't exist. Maybe they would have been happier. Shadow Nephilim agreed with her, and Shadow Wilhelm added that he might have been able to save Earth and not shrink it if he and his words didn't exist to oppose him.

While he was hurt, chaos simply clenched his fists and tried to bear with his pain while he spoke to the person up in the tree, whispering.]

Are..you alright? Would you like some help escaping?

[The new voice makes him start; he didn't recognize it, had another creature crawled out of the ether?

It was a stranger-- but it was a relief to see that it was someone solid, someone who actually belonged in the Tower. Er, so to speak. Though the relief didn't show on his face. Really, right now he looked like nothing more than a frightened child, stuck in a tree.]

I... [Yes, he wanted to escape-- he wanted them to be gone, but-- a part of him felt guilt for his own instinct for survival. That wasn't really something you'd find in a ghost, after all.

His voice caught in his throat. Instead, he nodded, though with a fervent amount of urgency.]

[chaos understood how hard it was to speak in this situation, with shadows that you loved belittling you and telling you of their failed futures. chaos nodded in return and held out his arms to the person so that he could easily jump down from the tree into them. It would probably make much less noise if they did that than if the boy jumped from the tree normally. Still whispering, he spoke again.]

Alright. I cannot help you here..but on the stairs, I can. Please, hurry and jump.

[He glanced around nervously for a moment; it wasn't the height he feared, so much as the re-emergence of the shadows. But, well-- there wasn't much left to lose here, he supposed.

He hopped off the tree branch and jumped to the ground, hopefully landing squarely enough in chaos' arms.]

[chaos didn't quite know where this person's shadows were, and his were a few feet behind him, some of them saying that they hoped he would be able to actually save this person. But the boy wouldn't be able to hear chaos's shadows, and chaos managed to catch the person and hold onto him.

He couldn't teleport here. But if he could run two floors down, he would be.]

Please, hold on tight.

[With that, chaos would start to sprint out of the thirty-second floor and down the stairs, not looking back to see if the shadows were following.]

[Fado did as instructed, holding tightly onto the fabric of the stranger's sleeve. Though he was certainly quicker than many of the other races of Hyrule, he was aware he wasn't the fastest around; but he nevertheless tried to glance around as they went, keeping an eye out for any of the shadow children, his or his helper's.]

[chaos's own shadow children followed them as chaos raced down the stairs, and shadow Jr. was more than happy to speak as they ran.]

Another rescue operation? I just hope that this one works out for you. After all, you pretty much failed to save us.

[While that comment hurt, chaos simply ignored it as he rushed on, hoping to get through the floors as quickly as possible.]

Hey answer me half pint. Why d'you get to live and the rest of us didn't? Aren't you sad you got saved instead of your king?

"I... I'm sorry." Taiki sniffed, rubbing tears out of his eyes. He saw Fado and ran up to him, because he was real and this shadow who spoke with Enki's voice wasn't.

Fado stopped midway in playing his new song when he heard someone-- a voice, and footsteps? He looked away from the shadow before him, lowering his bow and instrument while turning curiously.

"Taiki?" Well, the tears in his eyes certainly were something to be concerned about. "Are you alright?"

Taiki nodded, "I am, how are you?" He glanced at the shadow near Fado, wondering if it spoke such cruel things as his did.

The shadow seemed to take a step back at Taiki's presence; a movement Fado idly followed, before turning his attention fully to the one that was actually real and present (as much as it was sort of painful to admit).

"Never you mind that now," he says with a bit of easy dismissal, as he moves closer to Taiki, trying to put the shadow out of mind. "You do not seem so well yourself."

Taiki looked away from the shadow obediently and shuffled his feet, his own shadows hung back a bit though they still whispered at him.

"It's okay... things are just a bit scary..."

"Then it is not so different from a normal day, is it not?" He's still smiling (though sympathetically), but it's a bit of a...darker humor that he would typically be involved with.

Still, there was at least something to be said for it; it at least meant that there wasn't truly anything to be too afraid of, correct?

"I guess not..." He shuffled his feet. Taiki gave him a small smile, Fado was very brave he thought.

"Then do not let these things come to bother you too much, my friend."

Well, it was kind of hard to take his own advice in this situation; but it was a lot easier to put on a brave front for others than to keep himself calm on his own.

"I'll try..." He shuffled his feet again, "Um... what were you playing?"

She's never actually seen anyone plant a sapling before. It's just one of the things you miss when much of your time on your homeworld is spent either being kidnapped or traveling around to save everyone. It seems a little strange to her that a place like the Tower is the first place she'd see someone doing it.

Something about Fado seems... sad. Most people seemed sad today, when she saw them. She can understand why. The mixture of terrible presents - she's seen a few reactions in passing - and stalking shadows is awful.

"Now, now, don't be like that," comes a voice behind her and off to the side. She doesn't look to the three shadows cloistered there. "We just wanted to see you again. That's all any of us ever wanted. You should leave him to his own friends."

That just sounds like a bad idea. Sheba clears her throat to get Fado's attention before she speaks.

"...do you need any help with that?"

A new presence-- Fado's eager to turn his attention away from the small shadow that had settled in his hat, turning to look at Sheba as she cleared her throat.

"Ah-- hello there again," He said with a smile and a small wave of his hand. He recognized her voice from the day the glamour dropped. Though it hadn't occurred to him that others weren't as good at discerning voices as him.

You're going to let an outsider touch him?! You've completely lost all respect for us, haven't you?! You left the forest and all the others behind, leaving yourself to die alone in that rotten, crummy temple!

"...I'm sure he would like that."

"Again?" A pause, and then... "He?"

She's not usually this slow. But then, she doesn't recognize people by voices - she recognizes them by sight or by thought, and occasionally by both at once. But with the glamour down, she knew neither Fado's usual appearance nor his thoughts, and she's had another string of bad reactions to mind-reading - so for now, making actual conversation will have to do.

She's never heard anyone refer to a tree as a "he" before. Another first for the Tower, but she supposes it's not strange to encounter so many new things when so many people from so many worlds are gathered in one place.

"We have met before, yes?" He seems almost childishly oblivious that Sheba wouldn't be able to tell that it's him.

"When the illusion of this world fell, we spoke together on the stairwell-- I suppose it would be a bit odd meeting again now that our faces have returned."

Nevertheless, he doesn't seem to be angry she doesn't recognize him or anything, and he continues smiling as she brings up the Deku Tree.

"He is the Great Deku Tree; he was the caretaker of my people. To people outside our tribe, I believe he would be equal in role to a father."

"Oh! That was you?"

She hadn't realized - obviously. Her expression shifts from one of confusion to a small smile. "It's nice to see you again." And it is. With the way people come and go in this place, it's a relief to know that someone she's met is still around. It's just so easy for people to slip away.

"A father figure..." Sheba wonders if it's okay to help with this, then; but then, Fado hadn't told her to leave. "I see. Well, if he wouldn't mind me helping, I'd like to help."

"You'd help a stranger? But you haven't even helped your friends, Sheba."

She ignores the voice with a sort of grim determination.

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there's something in the wind

you know where

heheheh

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Floor 28

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farmland yo roomie

ey yoooo

Re: ey yoooo

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Forest, Friday

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Music room

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Farmland

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